Community leaders decry call for gang injunctions

Some Oakland community members are denouncing calls from city leaders for a gang injunction and curfews following the drive-by shooting death of a three-year-old boy.

Advocates chose the intersection of 64th Street and International Boulevard as the location for a press conference on Wednesday. The intersection was the location of a gang-related drive-by shooting that left three-year-old Carlos Nava dead.

The press conference on Wednesday was held by community members who said that gang injunctions are not the way to end violence.

During Nava's funeral on Tuesday, City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente said he will call for more gang injunctions. If both members were listed on a gang injunction, they would have been allowed to hang out with each other and the shooting might not have happened.

Opponents say that's a stretch, but De La Fuente said he wants to try it.

"What we want is for Ignacio De La Fuente and Larry Reid to start looking at the needs of this community," said Sagnicthe Salazar with the Stop the Injunctions Coalition. "They haven't spoken to the family. They haven't spoken to this community. They are pushing their own agenda that does not work."

Currently a gang injunction is enforced in North Oakland. City officials say fifteen people on that list have not committed a crime in the 14 months that it has been in place.

Opponents say the money used to enforce the gang injunctions could be used in better ways.

The Chief of Police for Oakland recognizes that the gang injunctions are controversial and would only like to use it as a tool if the city agrees that it is the way to go.